Gaillardia

[okc_bel_air]

I live in Lone Oak just north of there and I think I recall about a month ago a trailer pulling numerous golf carts out the gate.

[OKCTalker]

I've been told that the landscape maintenance company, Total Environment, hasn't been paid in some time and has stopped work. The person went on to say that TE is the contract lawn maintenance company for the private residences in Gaillardia, so no-one's getting their lawns mowed either. That last one didn't make sense to me because I assumed the country club and residences are separate entities.

Can anyone clarify?

[okc_bel_air]

The owner of Total Environment lives in Gaillardia. I am sure his is getting mowed

[ljbab728]

The owner of Total Environment lives in Gaillardia. I am sure his is getting mowed

And I doubt you'll see Kevin Durant out behind a push mower this summer.

[BBatesokc]

I've been told that the landscape maintenance company, Total Environment, hasn't been paid in some time and has stopped work. The person went on to say that TE is the contract lawn maintenance company for the private residences in Gaillardia, so no-one's getting their lawns mowed either. That last one didn't make sense to me because I assumed the country club and residences are separate entities.

Can anyone clarify?

My neighbor's father lived in Gaillardia until very recently and he confirmed that there was indeed an issue with private residences getting their lawns mowed. Also there was mention of one of the homeowners joining with another and buying out the country club. Regardless, I find the whole thing ironic.

[OKCTalker]

Depending upon bylaws, buying out a country club could be difficult. Aubrey McClendon toyed with the thought of buying the OKC Golf & Country Club one membership at a a time. As with other real estate purchases, if he paid 3x market value per shareholder, he'd have lots of members lining up to sell, and quickly end up in control for a fraction of the real estate's value.

One small catch: Only individuals may own stock, and no individual may have more than one membership.

[BBatesokc]

Depending upon bylaws, buying out a country club could be difficult. Aubrey McClendon toyed with the thought of buying the OKC Golf & Country Club one membership at a a time. As with other real estate purchases, if he paid 3x market value per shareholder, he'd have lots of members lining up to sell, and quickly end up in control for a fraction of the real estate's value.

One small catch: Only individuals may own stock, and no individual may have more than one membership.

Pretty big difference between buying out a country club "one membership at a time" and buying one out of foreclosure when/if a bank is motivated to get the property and liability off their books. Really going to depend on how truly dire the situation is.

[Just the facts]

What is the issue anyhow? Are the homeowners dues not high enough or did the management company run off with the money?

[onthestrip]

I'm sure this has more to do with the golf cub and lack of income and not so much the homeowners dues. And I'd also assume that everyone is responsible for their own yard maintenance, while the homeowners fees go to common area maintenance. I'm sure it's just a case of not enough paying golf club members for a course that is expensive to maintain.

[bradh]

This is issue is totally related to the country club itself, not the neighborhood, private homes, or the HOA. I thought the article made the pretty clear (even without stating such directly).

[Richard at Remax]

There are only ~150 golf members out there. Depending on which dues you pay lets say the average is $500/month. That's only $75K/month. That's barely enough to pay salaries. I don't know if that was their plan to only have that low of golf membership but new owner has to have some sort of membership drive to get some more money flowing in. Current members may not like that but it has to be done/or dues will have to double. Lastly, it is a nice solid country club course, but to me it doesn't go with the eliteness that the clubhouse and surrounding homes portray (if that makes sense), and that's why some of the golfers I know only play there for charity tourneys because there are better courses to get more bang for your buck. I think if they bring someone in to tighten the course up and add some more character to it, it will be looked upon with more desire.

[MikeLucky]

There are only ~150 golf members out there. Depending on which dues you pay lets say the average is $500/month. That's only $75K/month. That's barely enough to pay salaries. I don't know if that was their plan to only have that low of golf membership but new owner has to have some sort of membership drive to get some more money flowing in. Current members may not like that but it has to be done/or dues will have to double. Lastly, it is a nice solid country club course, but to me it doesn't go with the eliteness that the clubhouse and surrounding homes portray (if that makes sense), and that's why some of the golfers I know only play there for charity tourneys because there are better courses to get more bang for your buck. I think if they bring someone in to tighten the course up and add some more character to it, it will be looked upon with more desire.

150?! No wonder it's going out of business. I dare say not even Oak Tree National can survive on only 150 members... You gotta bring more to the table than what Gaillardia does, golf-wise, before you can start running things that exclusively.

[Richard at Remax]

We have around 235 members out at OTN right now, with a hard cap of 250. Sometimes during the week it is a ghost town around there on the course, so makes me wonder what it can be like over there at Gaillardia.

[bradh]

My customers who are members, as well as a former neighbor, always echoed the same concerns, that they've made it too exclusive and there was never anyone there. The few times I played golf out there, we never had anyone around us, and the pool had maybe 5 people at it on a Saturday afternoon.

[Bill Robertson]

A few years ago I applied for the position of Building & Grounds manager at Gaillardia. They offered the position to me if I would take X amount for a salary. It was just a bit lower than I wanted to go so the another guy got the job. I'm very glad now.

[okc_bel_air]

Things not looking good for the country club. Another bank in foreclosing on them.

Second bank moves to foreclose on Gaillardia Golf and Country Club | News OK

[MadMonk]

Will it be renamed Faillardia now?

[Pete]

I wonder if ClubCorp -- the Dallas company that just purchased Oak Tree -- might be a buyer for this property.

They tend to have multiple clubs in the cities in which they operate and Gallardia would certainly fit their profile.

[oilmud]

I wonder if ClubCorp -- the Dallas company that just purchased Oak Tree -- might be a buyer for this property.

They tend to have multiple clubs in the cities in which they operate and Gallardia would certainly fit their profile.

My understanding is they looked at it, but it was too far gone to save.

[Pete]

My understanding is they looked at it, but it was too far gone to save.

Interesting. Thanks for the information.

I wonder if going through the bankruptcy process might make the property more attractive as an investment. Might help strip out a lot of the debt burden, shape the place up a bit, etc.

[oilmud]

Interesting. Thanks for the information.

I wonder if going through the bankruptcy process might make the property more attractive as an investment. Might help strip out a lot of the debt burden, shape the place up a bit, etc.

Exactly.

[OKCTalker]

If successful, this will be a long turnaround. I wonder if there is enough potential membership demand (golfer and non-golfers) to support this as a country club, how long it would take to attract that critical mass of members, and what the accrued cash burn would be to get it to that point. Any current or potential members would wait to commit until they saw solid evidence that the turnaround plan was going to work.

Man - tough nut.

[Pete]

But, if ClubCorp got involved they would bring instant resources and stability.

And it seems like it would be a good fit given their Oak Tree ownership.


Country Clubs are always tough to make work and we've seen many in the OKC area go through several ownership changes and ups and downs. But very few just shut down.

Sportsman's recently shuttered but that was an odd setup (no golf course) and managed to stay alive for longer than I would have expected. Lots of tennis clubs have failed but again, that's a different breed of cat.

[onthestrip]

At least they got this going for them...

From Rusty Surette's twitter ‏@rustysurette
https://twitter.com/rustysurette/sta...224512/photo/1

[warreng88]

I don't play golf so I am not going to even guess, but what is the cost for green fees at Gaillardia versus Rose Creek, The Greens or Quail Creek? If it is $150 to play and the course is about the same quality as Rose Creek but RC is $75, then they need to lower their prices or make it worth the $150.